Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Tim. 3:12 ESV).
I am currently reading David Limbaugh's Persecution, an enlightening look at discrimination against Christians in public schools, academia and government. Thus far (I'm about halfway through the book), it is a bad-news compilation of outright bigotry and unconsitutional restriction of free-speech and religious rights against Christians. It is heavily documented, which is useful enough, but I'm not yet sure if there will be any solution talk in terms of this problem.
This got me to thinking. I'm heir to the general evangelical longing to be accepted seriously in the academy. It is perhaps arguable whether or not that has happened, but at least Christian scholars such as Alvin Platinga, Richard Swinburne, George Marsden, and Jaroslav Pelikan, among others, have gotten generally favorable notice among academics. And I, myself, certainly want to be known as an able scholar, thinker, and writer among my colleagues in academia.
But I wonder if Christians ought seriously to work for this sort of acceptance. St. Ignatios of Antioch has said, "Christianity is truly great when it is hated by the world." (Romans 3,3). If we are accepted by our secular cultures, have we diminished the greatness of Christianity? Should Christians expect to receive ever more discrimination and infringement of their rights the more faithfully we live our Gospel?
One hardly need encourage obnoxiousness for obnoxiousness' sake. Indeed, St. Peter exhorts us to be ever ready to defend our faith, but to do so "with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:15-16). But can one be both gentle and respectful and live a truly Christian life without persecution?
It's perhaps an unfair question. We are heirs to centuries' accumulation of the Christianizing of the cultures which are our forebears. When the society in which one lives is largely Christian in worldview, one can likely expect to live one's faith in peace. Unlike our eastern Christian brothers and sisters, we have not had to "work out our salvation" amidst militant Islam or atheistic communism.
But we U. S. Christians are now witnessing the full secularization of our society. Though at the moment, if David Limbaugh is correct, it is largely Christianity that is being pushed out of the public sphere, it is not Christianity alone which is experiencing this antagonism. Other faiths are similarly being discriminated against, and eventually, one may predict, once Christianity has been almost entirely marginalized, the other faiths will soon follow.
So, to what degree ought Christians (leaving out for this discussion, consideration of other faiths) to seek the respect and esteem of a culture seemingly intent on eradicating it from public consciousness? To what degree ought we seek to make the Gospel palatable to such a culture?
One of my esteemed New Testament professors summarized evangelism as "Removing obstacles to the Gospel so people can face the true offense of the Gospel." I've never forgotten it. His point: The Gospel is good news, but it must first offend before it can gladden. While we need not needlessly offend, ought we to "sweeten" the Gospel with parties for teens, therapy for adults, and the affirmation that we can keep it all and get salvation, too?
Do we distort the Gospel by telling non-Christians that God loves them "just as they are?" Are we guilty of false-advertising if we don't clearly identify the specific Christian behaviors for which we are responsible as we work with God to save our souls? Do we preach another Gospel if we don't clarify that Jesus is both Savior and Lord?
I wonder if the less different we look from our surrounding culture the less Christian we are? I'm not advocating an Amish-like withdrawal from the surrounding culture, but rather the living of such distinctive lives that we draw the attention--and discrimination and disenfranchisement, indeed, even persecution--of the culture in which we live. I'm advocating a Christianity whose greatness is not measured by worldly esteem, but active secular hatred.
Unfortunately, I'm a poor advocate. Pray for me, a sinner.
Posted by Clifton at January 4, 2004 05:56 PM | TrackBackAmen!
Although, every time I try to draw this picture, I end up with something Amishesque. About the only thing that isn't Amish is that we do, certainly, live in the world - and we rarely drive a horse-and-buggy.
Another useful image is Hasidic Judaism: we have jobs in the world, and as they do, and though we may wear "normal" clothes, like them they are to be modest, nearly puritan by woldly standards. We eat most of the same foods, but on our own calendar. (And, of course, some of us are *really* on our own calendar!)
This is the answer, really, to my Dhimmitude post. The secular greatness makes us Uncle Toms. Lo, our religious nuts also support us. We are willing to measure our success just like any political party or sporting event: income, numbers, customer satisfaction. Thus we cowtow to culture, downplay the Faith; downplay (or do away with) the full Gospel.
We cease to be Dhimmis when we live our faith - even Quietly: "The only 'social responsibility' of a Christian is to live, wherever and with whomever he may be, the life of faith, for his own salvation and as an example to others." (St Seraphim Rose) And again, "The Christian must be different from the world, above all from today's weird, abnormal world, and this must be one oft he basic things he knows as part of his Christian upbringing. Otherwise there is no point in calling ourselves Christian - much less Orthodox Christians." He also said one can not be half a Christian.
I think, in that action, we may become Amish or Hassids. One more quote from SR: "Orthodox Christians, surrounded by and already swimming in a sea of humanist-worldly philosophy and practice, must do everything possible to create their own islands, in that sea, of other-worldly, God-oriented thought and practice."
I, too, fail at this. Pray for me. It is hard to be a Christian alone.
Posted by: Huw Raphael at January 5, 2004 09:44 AM